I am sure this opinion will be used as evidence

In an op-ed piece published this morning in the TO Star, Thomas Walkom posits that Obama is one of theirs not ours and should be seen as such. Read it here

I see the smoking in cars debate has hotted up, perhaps got 'em all lit up [enough of that - ed] in the Nationals. Lou, of Queens Park fame, is saying that there may be a glitch in the law. Sure is - the whole bloody concept! But Port Hope Police may not enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame because of a bad law. The facts are these; a cop in PH saw a 20 year old driver smoking inside a car which had a fifteen year old girl passenger. He got the ticket even though there wasn't a kid in danger of inhaling secondhand smoke inside the car. After the car was stopped "the kid" got out and immediately lit another one that the cop couldn't do anything about. If you want to stop teenage smoking, which is another subject, you have to ban possession of ciggies to people under age - not just ban underagers from buying them. (This post edited for clarity 8.54am)

Sanity in Port Hope: A new Chair of the Port Hope Police Services Board has been elected. The existing Chair was deposed in a situation reminiscent of an old style African coup. Jeff Lees was on holiday and not at the meeting and Mayor Thomson told reporters, "Jeff thought he could be reappointed. He's a member of the Board and on vacation" Good ole Jeff, perhaps secure in his own mind failed to do basic political things, like making sure when the vote took place and having the votes in his pocket. Or perhaps he was unaware that the vote was taking place at this meeting and the others sandbagged him. Either way this is a positive move for regional policing as Jeff has been a staunch opponent of it.

Another view of infrastructure funding

More about infrastructure!
The first reaction I had to the "bikelanes in the middle of nowhere" was here. After some more thought there might be a more problematic side of this situation.

If infrastructure funding is designed to boost the economy and complete projects that Municipalities need then we should look at the extra cost to taxpayers. Normal cost is the taxpayer cost of maintaing the Town without extra projects. Of course all Municipalities have wish lists and Councils want to look good by building assets that may or may not be used by taxpayers. Thes infrastructure projects are accelerated schemes that have been planned but not ready to be implemented because the Municipality doesn't have them money for the project just now.

But if the Feds & the Province come along and start handing out money for "shovel-ready" projects where does the Municipality find the matching funds? From the taxpayers, of course, and what's the impact on this year's taxes?

But the disturbing part of this topic is that because there was the matter of the 600 million dollars of unallocated infrastructure funds from the past two years' budgets. If this money flowing to the County now is "old money' can we expect financial stimulus or just help to the Municipalities with capital projects?

Back to the "bikelanes in the middle of nowhere"! Are bikelanes now the norm in bridge and road design and how much extra does it cost to widen a two lane bridge by approximately two metres? How many manhours do those two metres takeup, how much of a multiplyer effect does the extra concrete and rebar and asphalt produce. And how does this project help the unemployed?

The most disturbing partof this dole-out is this - if the County was going to build this bridge this year (it was) where is the rebate (the money saved by the Feds contribution) to the taxpayers going to go? If the County was going to build the bridge with a three way split then what's the big deal? This is just a normal political announcement with a hyper-spin from the local MPP and the unemployed have still been shafted!

WTF

"For the county, the Factory Creek rehabilitation and bike lane project on the first bridge on County Road 18 north of Highway 401 at Cobourg is getting $372,123 from each of the federal and provincial governments." CDS 13th feb

With due respect bike lanes are nice but on a bridge in the middle of nowhere where there are no bike lanes leading to it it does seem waste of money!

I had to comment

Saw the President of the USA on TV last night and |I must I was impressed. I would not have voted for him if I could have had a vote - too much identity politics and not enough policy, but he fills the role now! Also the other comment that must be put on the record is the while his co-president - his wife, is running around trying to find a role, she has obviously rejected the traditional role, she did expose a bit of family hypocrisy. Praising the public education system for its role in shaping American minds she omitted to say that their children are not in the system, They go to a private school. Now I don't accept any reason for this. Their children should be in the system.

A quid pro quo for Obama

Not two weeks into his first term and he has already stepped on the "third rail" with Canadians, his largest trading partner and the supplier of his most secure source of energy. His bailout package contains a "buy America" clause. This if enacted will bar, amongst other things, Canadian steel, 40% of which goes to the US. So will our esteemed PM call Obama and say, "You want our oil you have to take our steel?" Can we bar oil exports? Under NAFTA apparently not, but under NAFTA the US cannot bar our steel. A typical Mexican standoff! Stay tuned.

What a load of Crap!

"The best protective factor against poverty as an adult is a good education," said Deb Matthews, Minister of Children and Youth Services, on a visit to Port Hope, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, which was Family Literacy Day.
This a quote from the Provincial person dedicated (by virtue of her position) to eliminate poverty. What a load of crap. Illiteracy is one of the factors of remaining in poverty but to say that it is the best protective factor is an abdication of provincial responsibility. I can see it now - blame the victim because they didn't like school or are handicapped in some learning way, for being poor and the Government can say "Ooops we don't have to help it's your fault -stupid!" In this case if we believe that 40% of adults are functioning illiterates, how come we don't have 40% unemployment?
How many times do the funders have to be told: THE CAUSE OF POVERTY IS NOT ENOUGH MONEY TO SPEND AND NOT ENOUGH GOOD PAYING JOBS .
Even if we agree that illiteracy will keep people from poverty, notwithstanding the number of unemployed graduates, how do we deal with the unemployed and disadvantaged in Northumberland today, not 15 years from now when illiteracy is eradicated?
Quite frankly the people who supported this puff piece in Northumberland should be ashamed that the province hijacked the process and sloughed off its responsibility.

Yesterday's activities

How about this guy? Henrick Ferguson English. Baby and Mom are doing well and the love of my life is delighted!

So no entries yesterday, and none today I have to be out of Town all day and then on Sunday the travelogue commences - don't forget to visit it from time to time.

These items may save us from financial Armageddon??

Budget snippets that are touted as financial lifelines:

• Tax cuts that give people earning $80,000 pa about $200
• Tax cuts that give people earning $20,000 (only the deserving poor) $500
• Give the unemployed (the 30% in Ontario that qualify) another 5 weeks on benefit
• Give a home reno credit of 15% (10% after tax)
• Give Municipalities access to lots of dough but only if they match it (pushing local taxes higher because municipalities aren't allowed to run deficits)
• Seniors get another $1000 age credit but no relief for the RRIF ballsup that has cost them money this tax year.
  
• A whack of money for retraining but retraining for what, we don't have a national skills database or even know exactly what trades need to be replaced due to the ageing workforce. And if we did would they get hired? For example we know that we need nurses but can't afford to hire them!
• I hate to be cynical but when this happens what else is there? - $8.3-billion skills budget over two years, half of which will be used to freeze premiums. So business gets a break (they pay double premiums so they benefit doubly) and it is touted as training!!

On quick assessment this budget strikes me as a failure all round, because :

• Not enough money without strings to do anything realistic.
  
• The Cons have produced a Lib budget to stay in power, abandoning all semblances of conservatism. How the party base can handle this is anybody's guess, they must be going nuts.
• The Libs will produce an amendment but will fail to get support and end up supporting a budget that could have been written by them.
• The infrastructure money will really only mean that those construction workers laid off last fall might get to get to work a little longer next fall as some of the projects may kick in.
• The unemployed didn't get what they needed - more weeks and better access to a crappy system, nothing for provincial support to help when the workers drop off EI and go on Welfare.
  
• The municipalities will not be building much because they do not have matching funds. For instance will Cobourg accelerate its plans for a seniors centre just to access infrastructure money? I doubt it if taxes have to go up.

Just a few morning thoughts, comments please

Today's the day!

Tuesday, Mr Flaherty bought himself some steel toed boots yesterday - I wonder who is going to feel the swift kicks?
All this infrastructure money just spewing from the Treasury, makes one think just what has been spent over the last three years from the Canada Build Fund - not a penny in Toronto, well that's what the Mayor says. So how realistic is it to think that we have shovel ready projects when the funding will depend on cooperative funding? Can Cobourg afford to boost its capital budget to match whatever goodies Mr Norlock has in store for us? If tax cuts will lead to structural deficits and infrastructure will lead to higher municipal taxes (to pay for its share) just what can Mr Harper do to stimulate quickly? Hey, how about just mailing us all a cheque for $100,000 (34 Billion divided by 34 million people). I know how to spend that kind of money.

I'm no economist: but.

Having watched economists for years it is fair for us to act like them sometimes. Especially when the government of the day produces economic statements, that purportedly have come from us (witness the homage being given to extensive consultation processes).

So this is what I would like to see:

• A budget built for the future, in other words this budget money must all be throwaway money. Any attempt to change existing tax structures that would impede the ability of the country to run itself in good time must be resisted. It should also be noted that tax cuts got us into this mess. Squandering a 12 Billion surplus in 2 years was foolish!
• Throwaway projects must be geared to the biggest bang for the buck. Manufacturing must be nurtured by an aggressive import replacement program and accelerated equipment tax credits.
  
• Tax credits must be used not tax cuts for business because if a company is struggling they don't pay tax anyway.
• Personal exemptions must be raised and made retroactive to last year's tax forms. People will spend a refund.
  
• Put the money in the hands of the people who will spend it as opposed to those who will save it or pay down credit cards. That means that the provinces have to receive higher transfer payments to help with their social support programs.
• Employment Insurance must be extended to beyond the life of the recession. We cannot afford higher welfare costs to cover the drop in EI.
• Older workers on EI must be paid to "bridge" the time needed to allow them to retire at 65.
• Municipalities must not be allowed to fund non-essential infrastructure. In Northumberland we are over serviced in the urban areas, we do not need any more water treatment or sewage plants, perhaps we do need to finish the botched effort in Plant 1.
• Defence re-equipment must be Canadian Sourced. No more American trucks when we can build them in Chatham.
• Any local infrastructure projects must have a local employment policy, no more trucked in labour.
• Money must be used to lower student loans, we cannot have a productive society hamstrung with debt.
  

All pretty basic stuff but because most of the list is practical as opposed to being political much of it will not see the light of day.